DE 10 2008 028 834 A1 discloses an air filter element which has a filter body consisting of a filter material and a first end plate and a second end plate, which are spaced apart from each other in the axial direction and bound the filter element in the axial direction. The filter body is thus arranged axially between the two end plates, which consist of an airtight plate material such as plastic. In the known air filter element, the two end plates lie in planes running in an inclined manner with respect to each other. The air filter element is thereby adapted to a predefined installation situation.
The accommodation of air filters in vehicles is often problematic because there is regularly only a small amount of installation space available. In order to be able to utilise the available installation space better, it is in principle possible to design a corresponding filter housing geometrically, taking into account the available installation space situation. The associated filter element must then be designed in a complementary manner to the housing. However, in the case of series products, in particular large-scale series products, this is problematic, as complex geometries in large-scale series parts result in excessively high piece prices. For this reason simple geometries are often preferred for large-scale series parts.
JP 04-175459 A and JP 04-134175 A disclose further air filters for motorcycles, the filter element of which has two filter bodies, which are of different sizes and are each closed axially with two identically sized end plates. The end plates, which face each other, of the two filter bodies are arranged on each other in an airtight manner. In JP 04-175459 A, a first air inlet tube opens into the interior of the first filter body, while a separate second inlet tube opens into the interior of the second filter body, wherein the two interiors are fluid-connected to each other by means of the two end plates which bear against each other. In contrast to this, in JP 04-134175 A, a common inlet tube is provided, which opens into the two interiors of the two filter bodies, which are fluid-connected to each other.
DE 10 2007 024 287 A1 discloses a filter element having only one filter body, which is arranged between two end plates. In this case the filter body has a U-shaped cross section, one open side of the filter body being closed with a closure plate, which is connected to both end plates.
WO 02/40133 A1 discloses a filter element having two filter bodies, two end plates and a common intermediate plate which is assigned to both filter bodies. In the known filter element, the two filter bodies are configured as identical parts, and the three plates, that is, the two end plates and the intermediate plate, are also configured as identical parts, at least the two end plates and the intermediate plate are of the same size.